Recommended Books
Posted
Sunday, June 10, 2007
by
Charlie Trimm
A friend of mine recently asked me about any books I would recommend for him to read. I thought that I would ask for advice from all of you as well. He does not have any formal theological training, but he is quite bright and well-read (just as an example, he just read and enjoyed N. T. Wright's massive tome on the resurrection). So here are some of my ideas, although it needs to be fleshed out a great deal. I hope especially that someone else will take it upon themselves to recommend some NT books.
Christian Theology: Millard Erickson. This is a massive work on systematic theology that helpfully presents various doctrines. He presentes the options, but also takes a stand on what the believes. He interacts with postmodernism and philosophy. It is highly recommended in my opinion in order to organize one's theology.
The Story of Christian Theology: Roger Olson. Olson helpfully overviews the story of theology throughout church history and helps to explain how we got to where we are today. This is a very interesting read as Olson is an excellent writer and makes the subject not only tolerable but enjoyable.
The Art of Biblical History: Philip Long. Long discusses the issue of history in the OT. Is the OT true? Is it history? And what is history? He does an excellent job examining the questions and presenting various viewpoints before landing on an informed conservative position.
Giving the Sense, Edited by David Howard. This is a collection of essays which looks at various OT subjects, such as history, archaeology, the exodus, narrative art and preaching the OT. The list of contributers is virtually a who's who of evangelical OT scholars (including a present teacher of mine and my upcoming doctoral mentor).
The Art of Biblical Narrative: Robert Alter. This book is a classic in the field of seeing literary art in the OT. While Alter writes from a Jewish and critical perspective, he has a multitude of fascinating observations of the text. Unfortunately, he tries to hold his literary viewpoint as well as the tenets of source criticsm, even though the very basis of the Wellhausen theory (JEDP) is destroyed by recognizing the literary art in the text.
to add comments